Who are you and why are you here?
©Scott Sines
When a crowd of Berners gathered at a Memphis coffee shop to watch a Sanders/Clinton debate it wasn’t a ‘line out the door’ type of crowd but there were no empty seats inside. They were predominantly young and white but there was a mix of gray hair in with the purple and green.
The volunteers at the campaign office looked about the same but they were more outspoken about their candidate. Nearly all of them were first-time voters and volunteers. Finally a candidate was talking about their issues. Even in the throes of phone bank boredom, there was a running undercurrent of enthusiasm about Sanders’ chances … ‘If we can just pick up a few delegates in Tennessee.’ ‘Trump has low ceiling.’ ‘Clinton is tired.’ They’re engaging the process because they feel like this just might be their year. They were all excited to talk about their candidate, their issues and their hopes.
Campaign finance reform: Reign in corrupt money-grubbing politicians
Hope Folsom is a first time voter because “she never wanted to vote for the lesser of two evils.” She’s a former off-the-gridder from Mississippi and read that “Bernie lived off the grid. He’s my guy.” (I couldn’t confirm that Sanders has ever lived off the grid but some people have referred to him as an off-the-grid politician.) She has decided to run to be a delegate from Tennessee so she can make sure her vote counts big. “I even convinced my therapist, I changed her mind.”
Nick Gordon is finishing up computer science studies at University of Memphis. He hasn’t voted before because he has no confidence in politics. He thinks money controls all the candidates except for Sanders. “I always felt politics were corrupt. It doesn’t matter who you vote for.” Gordon likes Sanders because he has no Super Pacs and he’s against Citizens United.
Context:
It’s true that Sanders has accepted very little PAC money. Small-dollar donors are the financial backbone of the campaign. Much like apps for mobile devices his support has a low price point and depends on volume. Seventy percent of his campaign has been funded by individual contributions of less than $200. The average donation hovers below $30. More than 4 million people have donated.
His mass emails ask for a donation of $3 or less. His campaign says simply, ‘Working Americans chipping in a few dollars each month are not only challenging but beating the greatest fundraising machine ever assembled.’
Wage gap/climate change: Opening new conversations across the country
Brooke Fearnley is a recent University of Memphis grad, with a degree in communications. She’s living back at home for now. “The ‘wage gap’ is relevant to me and my friends (in our job search). Also climate change is very much in my life. He has opened new conversations around the country.” A first-time volunteer she says, “I’ve never bought a campaign button or anything like that until now.”
Context:
Pay equity: On the stump Senator Sanders says, “We must establish pay equity for women workers. It’s unconscionable that women earn 78 cents on a dollar compared to men who perform the same work. We need pay equity for women workers and when we do that we take a big chunk out of poverty in this country.” It is an issue he flogs yet he’s dogged by his own history of pay inequity. A 2014 report in The Beacon showed that Sanders’ office paid women over 40% less than men. The report relied on data from Legistorm a non-partisan, for-profit company that researches, verifies and publishes information about members of Congress and congressional staff.
Climate Change: Sanders’s proposal to tax carbon, end subsidies to fossil fuel industries and fund renewable energy is the most aggressive and forceful proposal in the market. “Right now, we have an energy policy that is rigged to boost the profits of big oil companies like Exxon, BP, and Shell at the expense of average Americans,” Sanders says. His proposal is unique because it sets hard policy targets that establish accountability. Conservatives call the targets ‘ambitious’ but say the proposal will be totally ineffective. David W. Kreutzer writes in commentary for Fortune that ” … his proposal would have no measurable effect on climate. Instead, the cuts would reduce employment, cut income, and raise energy costs. ”
Human Rights: ‘He wants me here’
Julyanna Rogers was born in Brazil and is currently unable to vote. She is campaigning for Sanders anyway. “He has a consistent record on Human Rights. As an immigrant I feel he honestly wants me here.”
Context:
Sanders’s stand on human rights has been consistent since the 1950’s. He ran for President of his high school class on a platform of creating scholarships for Korean War orphans. He lost but the winner took on the cause and the scholarship program happened. In 1962 he was arrested for protesting public school segregation. He opposed both wars in Iraq and he’s consistently argued for voting rights his whole career. In the run-up to the Iowa caucuses when asked about President Obama’s political decision to delay executive action on immigration, Sanders was critical of the decision. Hillary Clinton ducked the question.
Higher Education: ‘I’d like to go … just to have the chance’
Jeseca DeMorises is a bookkeeper “This is my first time to vote a new president into office. I can’t afford to go to college so I find it inspiring that he wants to make it affordable. I’d like to go… just to have the chance.”
Context:
Sanders and Clinton are both aggressive progressives on solving the existing student debt crisis and considering how not to repeat the mistake. Both of their proposals are better than where we find ourselves today. Clinton’s plan will not completely eliminate student debt but it does cloak it in obscure language. Sanders’ plan tries to make college education totally debt free. He’ll pay for it with a vaguely described tax on Wall Street speculators.
The Berners are here: Deal with it
Maybe they’re all pipe dreams. Maybe the sheer inertia of ‘now’ will avoid the pain of change. But then again the Sanders campaign has smashed fund-raising records. The average donation is under $30 and more than 4 million people have donated. He has created a national network of tech-savvy followers many of them first-time voters and volunteers. They think they just might have a chance to make government address their issues. Who knows how it will all work out? But it is safe to say that when 4 million people get actively involved and have a taste of success … they aren’t likely to go away soon.
